Saelborough
'' '' "What lasting peace could endure, for such an idyllic land? 'ere before the Dawn stood, the truth of this place was drowned and dwells undying beneath blood and withered roses, in brambles and old ghosts. '' ''Outsiders do not know those deeds of House Belcarthe, and villagers are free to live in peace, for it is not their hand that draws the Crescent and traces pentacles in black rams' blood against the Blackwald's shriveled trunks. Peace for this land has always been won, from mortals and spirits all, at a blade's keen edge." ''- Lithena Oghmand, Harvest Witch'' (This entry is a work in progress. This notice will be removed when it's complete.) The Earldom of Saelborough lies in a geographical extreme within the Duchy of Ellingsdale, in the northeast. To its north are forested, mountainous regions bisected by the Greymane Wall. Beyond its forests and the banks of the Tholme river to its west lies the region of Keening Rock, and far to its south lie the earldoms of Sheremont and Bann Enther. Without boast, Saelborough is among the oldest of Gilneas's settled areas, and fosters pride in the wake of its rebuilding, albeit of a quieter sort now as reconstruction, resettling and regrowth carry on in the shadows of both Ellingsdale and Silverpine's prevalent dangers. To make up for the area's lack of people, wards and other similar incantations were woven throughout it to aid in concealing and defending the land from interlopers. Similarly, technology and industry have been a sizable provision on Cedric's part, to ensure the people are armed and equipped should need arise. The region produces fruit and vegetables by way of its orchards and farmsteads, harvests lumber judiciously from the surrounding forests and fishes freely along the river and sea. The residents make an effort to raise Cotswald sheep, and much of its grazing and growing land has been healed and restored from the Blight. Saelborough's largest productions stem from two growing mines within the region, one for copper and the other for iron, and in the past it was left to individual smithies to make these raw materials into more useful things - namely arms and armor for the ongoing resistance, and Alliance efforts abroad. Industry has since emerged in and around Raven's Wake to the northeast, centered upon Insmond Foundry within the mountains framing the nation's edge. Lucan St. Croix is the current head of state, serving as Saelborough's earl. He was appointed in 1146 F.A. after the reclamation of Sheremont. Reluctant in his duties, Lucan delegates much of Saelborough's oversight to a board of ten Selectmen, which is a misnomer - men and women of dwarven, human and elven stock all stand to lend voice to their people. Each member is elected from within their communities to serve on the council, though Lucan retains the final say on any given matter. Places of Note Within the Earldom of Saelborough, there are several places of interest; Saelborough town, the Belcarthe Manor and its adjacent ancestral barrows, the village of Raven's Wake, the Carrow Isles and Seahaven, the Eastwatch Lighthouse, the ruins of Therrend and many homesteads, forests and landmarks that make up the realm. Saelborough Town Although locals understand which place is being referred to by context, Saelborough Town is only a small portion of the greater region, and yet historically it has been the epicenter of life within the land and earned the region its name. Noted for being the first settlement, the town's construction centers on its hall and commercial hub before spiraling out into five wards, each named in succession after their founders, historical figures or general purpose. Saelborough Town's architecture is reflected in structures throughout the earldom. Long-modeled after ancestral styles, the town's homes and businesses have largely held to their founding aspects of dense, stone foundations and large, round windows. While wooden shingles are common, many buildings are modernizing with clay or stone tiles. Roofs are typically built with sweeping, curled points and set with ornamentation hearkening to the Old Ways, and most buildings and walls are adorned with similar gargoyles at their corners. After the fashion of vrykul houses mingled with Gilnean sensibilities, buildings are wedged in tightly, and main roads commonly dither into tight alleyways and small streets. An ingenious system of gaslights provide the town with illumination at night and during poor weather along its cobblestone roads, and most homes are similarly equipped. The Five Wards The first ward, known as Almspurn, is an extention of commercial undertakings within Saelborough. Here, taxation, tolls, banking and the like are all resolved in a cul-de-sac of huddled buildings, busy financiers and barristers all hurrying through their day to day tasks. The second ward, Wendholm, is a residential area, though there are homes scattered throughout the other wards. It has several small neighborhoods branching out from its main road, but apartments and inns are more common closer to the city's central district. Drelaine, the third ward, is the town's focal point for magical studies and scientific interests. Drelaine hosts the Aranas Library, dedicated to the Royal Chemist in 1143 F.A. for his work in aiding Gilneans against the worgen curse. The ward is also home to the Arkhale institute, and several shops that purvey in magical wares. Several engineering establishments and providers of clockwork artifice stand here as well. The fourth ward, Dawnhallow, is named after the church there, which stands as a place of worship, communion, practice and fellowship for people faithful to the Holy Light, the Old Ways, or both. Priests and druids rub shoulders and exchange matters of philosophy and community work within the town and abroad. The ward is also host to the majority of the town's doctors, as well as several holistic healers and pharmacies. The fifth and last ward, Morgan's Watch, wraps around the town. The bulk of the town's construction interests are seen to here, as resources are moved in from storehouses in the central district. Smaller barracks and armories are interspersed through the town, but the largest and most well-equipped are in Morgan's Watch, providing a line of defense and a ready staging point for preparing soldiers to fight abroad. Belcarthe Manor The manor which overlooks Saelborough Town from a gentle rise of sloping hills to the northwest has been the home of the Belcarthe lineage for centuries. Its architecture is of an old Gilnean sensibility, and built to withstand a beating, be it from storm or conflict, despite its branching levels. Though its grounds are bisected by the Greymane Wall to effectively separate the manor from the Belcarthe ancestral barrow, a tunnel bridges the two from deep within the manor's cellars. Haunting and hidden behind the gnarled treetops of Saelborough's forested domain, the storied manor is used as a base of operations and refuge for the Belcarthe family. The estate's protection is overseen by a group of retainers for the House, comprised of worgen, several of whom also hold official positions within the March's armed force. Curiously, the Manor has not been fitted with gaslight. Raven's Wake Northeast of the town of Saelborough is Raven's Wake, which looks out over the ocean in the shadows of the mountains to its north. It was known primarily for its mining and fishing endeavors, but while the village enjoyed some modest wealth, the fruits of its labors were never to remain in its walls until recently. It weathered the worgen outbreak at first, but ultimately succumbed to the creatures well before the arrival of the Forsaken. Currently, Raven's Wake is rebuilt with manufactories not far from its mine, so that those citizens who return to it can fully know and benefit from the fruits of their labors. With its docks rebuilt as well, buildings are emerging along the seaboard and many entrepreneurs are looking to take advantage of maritime trade's consistent return. Raven's Wake was never large to begin with. Centered around a large fountain in its town square, the administrative buildings huddled around the water, with small shops and homes staggering away from it. Due to the size of its influx of workers, people living there do so more out of tents and small shacks within the village's jurisdiction as construction efforts struggle to keep up with the sudden growth. These conditions aren't as dire as they were originally, and the sort of labor shanty towns that once cropped up with the area's reconstruction have become properly constructed neighborhoods. Insmond Foundry and Mines The Insmond Foundry is named for the Insmond Mines that feed it. Visible from the mines and from Raven's Wake, the new factory functions well despite its looming appearance in the mountains and its half-salvaged construction. While its smokestacks blow eastward and away from civilization, the foundry's conditions are a harsh reminder on the human cost of industrialization. Accidents aren't common, but they aren't unheard of either. To sate the needs of Saelborough's growth and those of buyers abroad, the foundry runs around the clock. Workers shift every twelve hours, and a flow of copper and iron from the mines below is equally continuous. Ingots are smelted here and worked into larger metal fixtures for siege weaponry and ships, both sea- and airborne. Below, the mines are a steady source of metals and precious stones. The system for drawing gasses released by miners is back to its function once more, not only providing the miners with a safer environment to work in, but also the fuel needed to maintain the gaslight infrastructure throughout the Earldom. Recently, a clan of Dark Iron dwarves arrived, seeking asylum in return for their expertise in forgework and sorcerous artifice. Clan Karthngdur is small, but it brings a tradition of potent magic and steam-driven machinery to grant Insmond an edge against the technologies of the Alliance's foes. The Carrow Isles Just off the coast from Raven's Wake are four tiny islands, also known simply as the Carrows, for the lineage that once presided over them. While the little islands are idyllic and rugged with their chalk cliffs and forested lands, they aren't large enough to host any sizable towns or shipyards, and instead act as small staging points or retreats from the mainland. On the northernmost isle is Eastwatch Lighthouse, which miraculously went unscathed during the Shattering, worgen outbreak and Forsaken invasion. Long-rumored to be haunted by the last Carrow, Lord Elias, the lighthouse is crucial to guiding ships into port and away from the ruinous crags that frame Gilneas's shoreline. The largest island within the chain holds the only bit of civilization in the region, a huge tavern and inn called Seahaven. Set with its own docks and several after market traders, pawnbrokers and obscure vendors, Seahaven entertains a lawless sort of environment where sea rats and society's disreputables can lose themselves in vice and think nothing of the consequences, and House Belcarthe is entirely content with this illusion. The truth is that Seahaven provides several uses, not all of which are immediately visible, and the law is left in trusted hands. The powers-that-be in Seahaven, veteran officers from the long-decommissioned HMS Blackwater, have long-since provided Saelborough with unofficial, elevated taxes for the freedoms permitted here; brawls are free to unfold where they will, lesser crimes are disregarded, gambling and prostitution are rampant, tattooing flourishes and the likes of tobacco and alcohol go untaxed. This is to say nothing for the sale and import of legally questionable weapons. In return, the officers oversee a general peace in their island paradise. They maintain a quiet defense of it and the surrounding waters, stave off slavers, traffickers and illicit substances, and keep the locals grateful to their King, Captain Ernst Holstham and their Duke for this sliver of barely-moderated heaven. Loyalty is high, even if public opinions toward the place from the mainland aren't. One establishment sticks out like a sore thumb, however. Angel's Light chapel sits nestled in among Seahaven's half-cobbled clutter, and is run by a handful of incredibly unorthodox clergy who work to provide for the tavern's abundant medical needs, the most obvious of which being disease. Therrend-on-the-Bridge South of Saelborough sat the crossroad trade town of Therrend-on-the-Bridge, or simply Therrend. While the roads and bridges were a critical access point to the March, and in more peaceful times served to draw in and push out export over the Tholme river, it was one of the first and hardest-hit locations during the Forsaken invasion. Little but shelled out husks remained of its buildings, and the ground around it was deeply Blighted. Considerations had been made to rebuild Therrend, and finally in 1146 F.A. the healing was able to begin. With workable land beneath them, the Quel'dorei Houses of Valenuil and Thalendres arrived as refugees to begin rebuilding Therrend as a new haven for themselves. Regional Characteristics Economy Saelborough town is a far cry from the likes of Gilneas City, but businesses within its wards and throughout the earldom endure. Guilds, societies and the like for trades such as medicine, chemistry, cartography and blacksmithing come together here as well, to consider economics and local services. The arts find representation in these trades, though no singular group has arisen to champion the cause of painting, sculpture, literature or music outright. It remains a culture that lives in folk craft, homes and beneath the guilds' veils. Although the local economy isn't exploding, a fair deal of gold passes through Saelborough by way of imports, exports and taxation on using the area as a waypoint in the north and by sea. Primary exports are refined wares and finished products from quasi-magical sources, such as alchemy, enchanting and the like. Raven's Wake has become the primary focus of metalworking and industry in the region as well, out of Insmond Foundry in the mountains overlooking the mines below. Private, smaller smithies continue to produce custom arms and armor, however, and contribute more toward domestic needs of metal goods. Food production has attained a stable equilibrium after trial and error, and through a great deal of aid from local druids. Saelborough will have to adjust for a growing population in the future, but so far the region's farmers and shepherds have been able to keep up with demands. Anglers, whether career fishermen or groups striking out from the docks, have done well to supplement any shortcomings, and have been pressed by many people in Saelborough to increase their yields as suspicion and concern for lingering Blight contamination prevails. Although Saelborough is suffused with extensive woodlands, the region's druids only permit logging in certain areas and always under their watch, and House Belcarthe maintains its position of using the forests as assets toward the earldom's defense strategies. More buildings are made of stone than not, these days. There is a tremendous demand for books and the means of printing and binding them. Any new books have either been copied by hand from damaged editions, or were purchased and imported from abroad. Law Saelborough's laws had been written in such a way that they apply in the town and carry over into the earldom abroad. House Belcarthe was so invested in its hold over the region that its vassals and bannermen make up the bulk of the guard, where Therrend and Raven's Wake fielded their own Watches that were overseen by appointed, lesser peers. The lawmen are fully armed and armored. As a result, there are only a handful of hired constables, but as a requirement to serve, everyone working on guard duty is regularly drilled on legalities by local barristers. Townsfolk and regular visitors are advised to do the same, as people from the lowest beggars to the Belcarthes themselves are all beholden to the law. Conviction and evidence, such as witnesses, must be seen to before a sentence is carried out. Theft, tax evasion and embezzlement are met with the same punishment; a week in the stocks, and all the old produce and full chamber pots the locals can find, as well as the return of whatever goods or funds were stolen or withheld. Should such things be absent, the criminal's possessions or properties will be taken and sold to make up for the difference. If an individual steals to feed themselves or their families, they must work to pay off the theft, and the work has to be witnessed by the victim and an active guard. Many of Saelborough's impoverished have standing deals to work for food as a result, bypassing the complications of law entirely and thus maintaining the peace. Theft of a mount is a death sentence, as is kidnapping. Public indecency, such as drunkenness, nudity and belligerence are all rather lax in enforcement. Drunks are left alone if they leave everything else alone, belligerence is often met with one of the citizens or guards shutting someone up, and going about bare as birth (while appalling to some) is only enforced in town - people have to bathe in the country, after all, and few care in rural regions with so many covens in the area often practicing bare. Fornication is a broad spectrum, as the act often is, and the one or more guilty parties are given a steep fine and two days in the nearest jail; this is, unless, a witness or guard even wants to bother with stopping the act. Many a blind eye have been turned to young love. Adultery finds similar punishment, but with the addition of public shaming and the division of properties. Assault and vandalism, whether on a person or property, is met with public gibbeting for two days, followed by the criminal apologizing to their victim in a public forum. Flogging may occur in this time, with the victim given the first strikes. Laws surrounding breaking-and-entering are stipulated as thus; the property's owner or resident has the right to undertake whatever means are at their disposal to halt the crime, up to and including killing the perpetrator. Pets and their owners are free from liability. Similarly, self-defense is also permitted, though any act that goes in excess of force required to deter, restrain or otherwise halt an attacker falls under the victim's fault. Murder, sexual crime, victimizing of children and the elderly, and slandering of the House and Crown are all met with public punishments such as mutilation, castration, branding, dismemberment or execution conducted by House Belcarthe's present head, or by an appointed executioner. Repeat offenses are met with longer terms, steeper fines and growing restrictions on an individual's freedoms and mobility until one is either imprisoned, executed or exiled. Brawling and Duels A caveat beyond the legal system must be made for brawling and duels, which are acknowledged and supported methods of resolving disputes without draining the March's legal resources, time being one of them. Neither act can be initiated without the offended challenging the offender, with no less than three witnesses to the offending act. Brawling must be taken to a ring outside of town, and a fight must be undertaken within three days of the dispute. The fighters are permitted footwear, pants and a shirt. The fight carries on until one party is unconscious or yields, at which point the dispute is resolved. Should the offender win, they can walk away. Should the offended win, the offender must satisfy the demands set forth by the offended. Dueling follows the same stipulations, but with weaponry. No armor is permitted, and the likes of bows, crossbows and firearms are forbidden. Magic can be used so long as both individuals are capable of it, but never before or after a duel. Most often, duels result in injury, and usually a healer is in attendance. Unlike brawls, duels are held until someone yields, becomes incapacitated or dies, and are thus much more severe. Education Saelborough entertains a standard of education, in which children are expected to be literate, understand basic arithmetic and have a grasp of regional history by the time they're six. It currently has only one schoolhouse, the Arkhale Institute, which is nestled in Saelborough Town's Third Ward, Drelaine. The largest library in the earldom is located across the street. Arkhale provides a relatively fair and well-rounded education for children until they're fifteen, at which point a child either proves themselves capable or interested in a particular field, trade or artform, be it creative or martial. Similarly, if a child excels in religious studies, or has otherwise shown a great interest in pursuing a life of faith, they are directed toward the Church or a coven nearest to their family's home. Once a student is finished at Arkhale, it comes to tradespeople and trainers to then make a learned individual into a functioning and contributing member to society, if the student hasn't found their way already. Apprenticeships exist as they traditionally have for nearly every path, and passage exists for those who have futures beyond the earldom to Stormwind by way of the docks at Raven's Wake. Saelborough has no collegiate institution to speak of, and thus relies on pursuits that require higher education to rest on the shoulders of some few resident masters to train those who want to remain in the earldom but wish to pursue the sciences, arcane and otherwise, and for individuals who seek the rigid refinement of a war academy. Technology Technology within Saelborough is largely comparable to that found in other developed areas, such as Elwynn Forest. Horses and pack animals do the bulk of the carrying. Prior to Arcturus II's ascent, talks were being held for adding railways throughout Ellingsdale with the aid of several dwarven engineering guilds, in hopes of pioneering a growing interest in steam-driven technology for logistics and transportation. This hasn't come to pass; the project was abandoned to reserve regional funding, and the extensive plans and blueprints for the endeavor were only recently rediscovered in Sheremont's industrial districts. Beyond this, however, Saelborough enjoys a handful of technological innovations inspired and adopted from gnomish, dwarven and local discoveries. Insmond Foundry is a largely dwarven-made facility, as is its subordinate mine. The factory is semi-automated, though the mechanics therein are particularly cumbersome, both to operate and repair. Throughout Saelborough Town and within Raven's Wake, Seahaven and formerly in Therrend, gaslights are networked along streets, roads, buildings and all else, even within homes by way of tightly-fitted brass pipes. Individual structures and residences usually have a secured, simple sort of manual console behind the building under lock and key to shut off or vent a buildings gas outside. Clockworks and steam-driven technology aren't entirely common, though they aren't unheard of either. More often, these mechanisms are built into things such as doorways, timepieces and larger clocks, looms, articles of convenience (e.g. a contraption used to sort or fetch someone's mail, or to put a kettle on), or in larger fixtures such as the town's gates, controls at its dockyards at Raven's Wake, and within the Insmond complex. Larger fortifications along the town's wall and throughout both Raven's Wake and Seahaven are host to cannon towers, and several people carry at least one well-weathered hunting rifle in their home, with the more martially-minded seeking out the rarer pistol. Firearms are usually flintlock designs, however many gunsmiths in Saelborough are becoming accustomed to working with percussion cap weapons and ammunition, and for a fee are willing to convert older flintlock rifles and pistols. More people are able to afford and maintain the likes of crossbows, however, and for all the flash and fury of a gun, many of Saelborough's citizens are more apt to carry a rapier or dagger of one design or another to protect themselves. Hunters generally rely on the crossbow for its strength and silence. A scant handful of people, more commonly well-to-do types from a slowly rising middle class, are able to entertain the likes of plumbing, along with the comforts and conveniences that come with it. Water pipes are set apart by being made of galvanized iron, but have similar fixtures within a building; unlike gas controls, however, water consoles are large, clunky, and secured within a basement or cellar. The vast majority of Saelborough's residents prefer any business involving bathing to be conducted in a bath house, for social reasons, and like to keep their other business to outhouses, and out of their homes, believing it to be more sanitary and less of a hassle. Elsewhere, the infrastructure of Saelborough Town itself is sound, though a fair amount of work yet needs to be done for the territories beyond it. Stonemasons and civil engineers rely on a solid grasp of physics, craftsmanship and knowing their materials to create and maintain the region's modern amenities and structures. History Much of Saelborough's history is tied to Ellingsdale's, however several events are unique to the region, and had usually unfolded due to the actions and efforts throughout the Duchy. Antiquity - ca. 1685 U.A.R. During the colonization of Gilneas, Crovath was a good place for many ancient human settlements. Much like Colwaithe and Keening Rock, the area that would later become Saelborough was valued for its fairly even lands, good earth, ample resources and its closeness to a flowing river. Similarly, as pagan covens passed through, they felt that Saelborough's geography lent itself to making the area into a spiritual epicenter. While other clans, families and loners moved further south into Ellingsdale and the rest of Gilneas, covens such as the Bal Cadhr were content to remain and cultivate the region. As time went on, the more forward of these groups accrued primitive retainers of sorts. Individuals would serve the covens, and in turn curry their favor and that of their ancestors, various totemic spirits and the rest. The land itself would come to embrace its emissaries to the mortal world, and in turn their servitors. When clan disputes emerged, often the druids exploited their attuned grasp of the natural world to wage more distant, but far from subtle battles against one another. Sickness would become rampant, along with stillbirths, blights, massive die-offs from fish, natural game and wildlife. Often the only animals to thrive in these times were those chosen as spiritual representatives for the clans, but one coven's beloved icon remained prolific in the region through these conflicts - Bal Cadhr invoked its ravens as a storm unto themselves countless times. Once the coven claimed its dominance over the region, stability began to flourish, and old challengers quickly became quick allies. Damages rendered upon the land, its flora and fauna were mended, and Saelborough became a place of peace and stability among the other feuding areas in Crovath. As civilization developed, the Bal Cadhr coven became a House proper, recognized locally and abroad for its strength in mysticism, and its communion in the Old Ways. As Saelborough grew, the archaic foundations for the town of its namesake were plotted out among a clutch of longhouses and secure huts, while the original Bal Cadhr grounds became the place for a familial compound later on, and then the Belcarthe Manor. During the War of Aderic, Saelborough devoted many of its strongest druids to the war effort. Though many had not survived the horrific battles along its bordering mountain passes, the region and the rest of Gilneas were able to claim their right to stand free of northern transgression. The Threefold Strife - 366 F.A. Saelborough had met the political and economic demands following the War of Aderic, to maintain a regional peace and satisfy the grievances of Crovath's other regions. As war broke out between Bann Enther, Colwaithe and Sheremont, the witch-lords of Saelborough were able to afford themselves a fair distance from the continuing fight. They were, however, helpless to stop the traffic along the Tholme river. Bal Cadhr and other ruling covens forsook their rights to toll and tax along the Tholme and its bridges, and were left to enforce their control by martial means, which would cast them into the rising conflict. Instead, the witch-lords of Saelborough and Keening Rock attempted to maintain peaceable ties throughout Crovath and abroad, hoping to ultimately bypass the other three regions and their war. By the time King Mortimer I was petitioned for aid, the unbridled conflict threatened to compromise Crovath's hold over the northeastern border, and was weeks away from plunging the earldoms into irreparable chaos. The king answered with Earl Coronaugh Ellingsdale, who was proclaimed Duke of Crovath, and was granted a crown-sanctioned contingent to wrangle the war into submission. Stagsheart Charter and the Light's Arrival - 379 F.A. As Sheremont and Bann Enther were defeated, normalcy began to return. Once Colwaithe surrendered two years later in 368 F.A. due to catastrophic losses, the people of Saelborough and Keening Rock were able to find relief and resume their business between the earldoms and with the rest of Gilneas. They had lost the influence and presence of their faith, however. Reverence for the Old Ways became hushed, even within Saelborough, as Ellingsdale was shrewd, but also Light-fearing, and of the mindset that others should follow suit. Crovath had known very little of the Light, and even less of the Church, before Earl Coronaugh's arrival. The witch-lords were grateful when he proposed his agenda to offer a duality within the newfound Duchy, instead of working to destroy the customs and long-standing faiths in the region. The Duke showed his pragmatic colors in seeking a middle ground, and the resulting peace was a progressive movement in the signing of the Stagsheart Charter. Saelborough became ahead of its time, philosophically, as its rulers were quick to sign the Charter and welcome its benefits. Its people were given the chance to explore one religion or the other, or to seek a spiritual life by bringing aspects of both the Light and the Old together. Times change, and the witch-lords of Saelborough, the Bal Cadhr among them, adapted and thrived. Recognition of House Belcarthe - 528 F.A. With the blessing of Duke Coronaugh's son and heir, Horace I, the Bal Cadhr coven's presiding family bearing its namesake was officially inducted and recognized within Ellingsdale and Gilneas's peerage as the House of Belcarthe. The family accepted an anglicized pronunciation of their name to signify a joining of contemporary Gilnean society and the ancient beliefs and customs of its people within Saelborough and beyond. Honoring their time as Saelborough's foremost rulers, the witch-lord Harran Belcarthe was deigned Marcher Lord and granted the whole of Saelborough as his to govern. Other covens within the region bore the influence, economic and martial strength to make similar shifts. Among them were the Naom Droche who became the St. Croix of Raven's Wake, the Porlaerthe as House Porlaine in Therrend, the Faerladh as House Vorlanne in Saelborough, and lastly the coven Drungaidh, as House Drumonde, also in Therrend. While most of Saelborough's people were quick to celebrate and honor these changes toward brighter futures, Houses Drumonde and Vorlanne were content only to pay lip service to the path that the Stagsheart Charter laid out. Lesser covens who were either overlooked or suffered losses at the shifts and solidification of powers would bide their time and return some six decades later to make their own breed of war against the powers that be. The Unrest Below - 589 F.A. In this period, while peace looked to be upheld at first glance, troubles brewed in the shadows. Many covens still coveted superiority and independence from secular and regional ecumenical law, and numerous battles unfolded in the shadows between those druids and sorcerers who gave into more craven arts, and the individuals who took up magic and arms against these threats. Several offending practitioners were unable to control the horrors they invoked, and it was left to those looking to maintain stability and the status quo to undo the foul works undertaken for greater power and presence. Many worried folk took up as witch or monster hunters, who worked side-by-side with more reputable covens to stamp out a darkness encroaching around Saelborough and its surrounding regions. In silence, by blood oaths and an urgent need to quell these otherworldly threats, the Vesaille Concordat was founded in a small, secluded mountain hold overlooking Raven's Wake with Lord Gerarde St. Croix at its head. Sanctioned by then Duke Horace Ellingsdale II, under what authorities were given to him by the crown, the Concordat was foremost in serving as an ecumenical watchdog over problematic outlier groups, nascent covens and attempted arcanist congregations throughout Ellingsdale. Their focus remained primarily within Saelborough, however, as House Belcarthe sought to keep friends close and potential enemies closer. Time and again, the House had to prove itself as an ally in the dark, and had avoided the Concordat's quietly-sanctioned justice as other ancient covens fell under the Vesaille's judging gaze. Fall of House Drumonde - 754 F.A. After over a century and a half of fighting with the Vesaille Concordat, House Drumonde's continued pursuits of using dark magic, as well as those creatures and spirits aligned with it, to advance themselves and destroy perceived competitors came to a head in the streets of Therrend-on-the-Bridge. During a masquerade celebrating Hallow's End, Vesaille agents under command of Gerarde's grandson Daral disguised as attending nobles struck at House Drumonde and its allies. Unaware of the conflict, civilians and dutiful guards within Therrend attempted to stave off the attack. By the time it was over, the Drumonde banner burned to its foundations, and two hundred people lay dead in the bloodied streets. None of House Drumonde's members survived. News had spread to the Duke, Horace Ellingsdale III, who was horrified by the violence and enraged that Ellingsdale's secret institution of holding the Night in check had made such a spectacle of their work. Disbanding of the Vesaille Concordat - 760 F.A. Convinced that such a blatant display would undermine the Concordat's secrecy, and thus its strength to exist in relative silence, an aged and ill Duke Horace III made the Vesaille's dissolution his final ruling act before his death in 762 F. A. On Horace III's order, Daral was stripped of his authority and left a mere landowner with no martial or political ruling privileges. The doors of Vesaille Hold were barred and chained, and Daral's lands were put under direct authority of Harran Belcarthe's great-grandson, Cerrond. The following centuries would herald the slow and steady decline of House St. Croix's presence among Ellingsdale's peerage. The family consolidated itself to Raven's Wake, and maintained few of its ties abroad. Cerrond Belcarthe continued to confide in Daral's experience however, and in silence privately funded an unsanctioned and nameless initiative to continue the Vesaille's efforts, if only among a scant handful of willing and able people. Power Vacuums - c.a. 761 - 1050 F.A. The disbanding of the Vesaille and the fall of House Drumonde brought on a period of uneasy and tense quiet, as both Houses Drumonde and St. Croix were left either dead or powerless. To maintain regional stability, the Duke and his subordinates worked to find people or groups capable of carrying on the work abandoned in Therrend and Raven's Wake. The effort took nearly three centuries, as the people of Raven's Wake were loathe to accept appointees, and instead found a final and begrudging peace in being under House Belcarthe's jurisdiction. Seahaven, a tiny port-town off the coast of Raven's Wake, was the most resistant, as Daral St. Croix afforded them a great deal of liberty and vice so long as the island upheld its duty to maintain shipping lanes and safe seas. Similar complications arose in Therrend, but moreso among the upper class, as House Drumonde made it a point to line pockets and secure proxies during the years of Vesaille pressure. Skeptical of the Duke's presence, and to some interference, these lingering devotees fought amongst themselves in political and economic arenas to tear off a piece of what Drumonde lost for their own gain. Eventually the businesses and authorities that had once been under Drumonde's jurisdiction fell to the likes of House Porlaine and others. House Drumonde's faithful allies were only able to fetch up nigh-worthless scraps in the end. Days of Prosperity - 1054 F.A. With King Archibald's push for modernization, several individuals throughout Saelborough found their opportunity to emerge from the dark to propose their new inventions. Concepts and methods of industry and fabrication that had gone unheard of before provided the foundation for numerous inventors to create new and better, if not curious or convenient, ways of living. Preeminent among those inventors in Saelborough was Sir Artur Wensleigh, born in Raven's Wake, who pioneered the use of gaslights all throughout the earldom. Less fruitful were his exploits in applying electrical current and magnetism, though his research was preserved for posterity. Due to its industrial base, Raven's Wake was host to several other technologically inclined creators, such as Dr. Toland St. Croix, renowned for his work in artifice and chemistry, and Frederich Benlowe, who with the conjoined efforts of several dwarven engineering guilds, devised an automated rail system within the Insmond complex. Benlowe had further plans to extend similar lines throughout the entirety of Saelborough, and potentially Ellingsdale as a whole, but these never came to fruition due to political setbacks from Sheremont and the Duke's family, who derived a sizable portion of their wealth from the region's stables. Lady Carnelia Sabben came out of Therrend, with her innovations on advanced flintlock technology and her pioneering into the territory of percussion cap firearms in the region. A chemist first and foremost, her understanding of black powder and its dynamics went into her work with weapons and chemical discoveries beyond guns, rifles and cannons. Thomas Algernough, also from Therrend, was instrumental in furthering research into water relocation, along with plumbing and sewer works. His efforts allowed aqueducts to be placed throughout Keening Rock's winding mountains and established sewer systems in Therrend that diverted the Tholme's annual floods into reservoirs and the sea nearby. His work was also critical to establishing cisterns and waste disposal in urban areas like Sheremont, Saelborough and Raven's Wake. Between these and other inventors, engineers and architects, Saelborough new a technological golden age compared to where it had been a mere decade before. A Shadow over Sheremont - 1122 F.A. (wip) Category:Places Category:Kingdom of Gilneas Category:Ellingsdale